This Act may be cited as the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Electoral Act, 1927 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

In order to provide for the periodical readjustment of the representation of the people of New Zealand in the House of Representatives there shall be a Commission to be known as the Representation Commission.

The Commission shall consist of seven members of whom—

Every unofficial member of the Commission, unless he sooner ceases to be a member as provided in subsection three of section seven of this Act, shall cease to be a member on the date on which the first periodical census is taken after the date of his appointment.

The remuneration and travelling-allowances of the unofficial members of the Commission shall be fixed from time to time by the Governor-General in Council, and shall be paid out of moneys appropriated by Parliament for the purpose.

The persons who on the passing of this Act are in office as unofficial members of the North Island Representation Commission or of the South Island Representation Commission constituted under the principal Act shall be deemed to have been appointed on the passing of this Act to be unofficial members of the Commission constituted under this section.

For the purposes of this Act the term “adult population” means total population with the following exceptions:—

Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 966

Within six months after the results of any periodical census have been ascertained and reported to the Commission, which report the Government Statistician is hereby required to make as early as possible, it shall be the duty of the Commission to divide New Zealand into electoral districts for the apportionment of the representation of the people of New Zealand in the House of Representatives, according to the following basis, that is to say:—

The report of the Government Statistician of the results of the census last taken before the making of any such division shall be sufficient evidence as to the adult population of New Zealand or of the North Island or of the South Island or of any district.

Where in the opinion of the Commission districts cannot be formed consistently with the considerations hereinbefore provided for so as to contain exactly the quota, the Commission may for any district make an allowance by way of addition or subtraction of adult population to an extent not exceeding five hundred.

When the Commission proposes to make any such division due notice of the boundaries or approximate boundaries of the proposed districts shall be given in the Gazette, and objections in writing to the proposed boundaries may be lodged with the Commission within one month thereafter, and the Commission shall duly consider any objections so lodged before coming to a final determination.

The Commission shall in every case report the names and boundaries of the electoral districts fixed by it to the Governor-General, who shall proclaim them in the Gazette; and the report shall have the force of law from the date of the Proclamation, but shall not come into effect until the expiry of the then existing Parliament.

A copy of every such report, together with properly authenticated maps of the electoral districts fixed by the report, shall, within ten days after the receipt thereof, be presented by the Governor-General to the House of Representatives if sitting, and, if not, then within ten days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

Upon the taking-effect of any report as aforesaid the electoral districts fixed thereby shall be the electoral districts of New Zealand for the purpose of the election of members of Parliament after the dissolution or expiration of the then existing Parliament, and shall so continue until the succeeding report of the Commission takes effect, or Parliament otherwise enacts.

The Minister shall forthwith after every report of the Commission is proclaimed cause to be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives properly authenticated maps of the electoral districts fixed by the report.

Any four members of the Commission of whom at least one shall be an official member shall constitute a quorum, and may exercise all functions vested in the Commission.

The Commission may make such rules for the conduct of its business, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as it thinks fit.

Any unofficial member of the Commission may resign his appointment by writing addressed to the Governor-General, in which case, or in case of any such member becoming bankrupt, or being convicted of any indictable offence, or of his refusing to act, or of his death or mental or physical incapacity, or of his absence from New Zealand when his services are required, the Governor-General may, by Order in Council, if the House of Representatives is not in session at the time, appoint another person in his stead; and every appointment so made shall be notified to the House of Representatives as soon as possible after the making thereof.

No member of the Commission shall, within two years after he ceases to be a member, be capable of being appointed or elected to be a member of either House of the General Assembly.

The foregoing provisions of this Act are in substitution for sections six to thirteen of the principal Act, and those sections and section twenty-four of the Statutes Amendment Act, 1936, are hereby accordingly repealed.

Section eighty-one of the principal Act is hereby consequentially amended by omitting from subsections one, seven, and eight the word “Commissions”, and substituting in each case the word “Commission”.

Notwithstanding any future changes in electoral districts, every no-license district now constituted under the Licensing Act, 1908, shall, so long as it continues to be a no-license district, continue for the purposes of that Act to be a licensing district with the same name and boundaries as on the passing of this Act.

The boundaries of any licensing district adjoining any such no-license district shall be adjusted so far as may be necessary to give effect to the last preceding subsection.

Whenever the Representation Commission divides New Zealand into electoral districts it shall in its report declare the names and boundaries of the no-license districts and of the other licensing districts of which the boundaries are adjusted as aforesaid, and the districts so declared shall upon the taking-effect of the report be deemed to be constituted licensing districts under the Licensing Act, 1908, instead of the electoral districts of which they are comprised.

Polls under the Licensing Act, 1908, of the electors of any licensing district constituted under this section shall be taken, and the names of the persons entitled to vote at any such poll shall be enrolled on special rolls or indicated on the ordinary rolls, in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations made in that behalf by the Governor-General under the principal Act.

There may from time to time be appointed a Returning Officer for each licensing district constituted under this section. All references in the Licensing Act, 1908, to the Returning Officer shall, in relation to any such licensing district, be deemed to be made to the Returning Officer appointed under this subsection, and not to the Returning Officer appointed for the electoral district.

Section sixty-six of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “send notice to each elector so removed from or entered on the roll”, and substituting the words “in the case of each entry, send notice to the elector so entered on the roll”.

Section seventy-eight of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “in any year in which a general election is to be held”, and substituting the words “from time to time”.

Section one hundred and forty of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Section one hundred and sixty-one of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding the following:—

It shall not be an offence against the said section one hundred and sixty-one for any person at any election—